NextWave acquires Wi-Fi start-up to complement its WiMAX services

NextWave Wireless’ plans to buy out GO Networks, one of Network World’s 2005 start-ups to watch, are aimed at satisfying a key element in its plan to extend broadband wireless services through WiMAX and Wi-Fi base stations and specialized antenna.

By acquiring GO’s Wi-Fi mesh base stations and adaptive beam-forming antenna technology, NextWave plans to offer carriers and providers a complementary set of Wi-Fi and WiMAX gear to deploy wireless broadband over large areas.

The deal, which was unveiled earlier this month, calls for NextWave to pay $13.3 million cash to acquire GO. In addition, it will pay up to $25.7 million in the form of NextWave common stock; that amount is contingent on hitting a set of “operational milestones” over the next 18 months, according to a NextWave statement. NextWave also is taking over GO’s current obligations of about $7.5 million. GO will become a wholly-owned subsidiary once the deal, which is expected to close in the current quarter, is finalized.

GO’s intellectual property lies in chipsets, antennas, software for running and managing the base stations, and QoS features. The goal of GO’s founders was to mimic first with Wi-Fi and then WiMAX radios the carrier-class reliability of cellular radios, at a much lower price. The company introduced its first base station product in 2006.

“We think WiMAX and Wi-Fi are complimentary,” says Roy Berger, executive vice president of corporate marketing for NextWave. “Instead of arbitrarily choosing one or the other, we want to integrate them together to achieve a seamless experience for the end users.”

NextWave plans to offer the GO products and integrate GO technologies, such as the mesh protocols and beam forming antennas, into NextWave’s own WiMAX products.

NextWave Wireless was spun off from NextWave Telecom, a company embroiled in a long-running, controversial battle with the FCC and other carriers over valuable spectrum licenses. NextWave sold most of the licenses to Verizon in 2005, and proceeds of that sale were used to launch NextWave Wireless.

Berger says NextWave is talking with “lots of folks who’ve expressed interest” in the company’s products and the spectrum it still owns. He says NextWave will partner with other companies to deliver broadband wireless services.

GO’s major backers included Accel Partners, Apax Partners, Israel Seed Partners, Pitango Venture Capital and Siemens Acceleration. A smaller investor was Benhamou Global Ventures, started by former 3Com chief Eric Benhamou, who became GO’s board chairman.